Welcome to “Silly Season” in the NBA, where we see a lot of instances of teams resting starters to tank for a better draft pick or preserve health for the playoffs. In these articles, I focus on the top plays, traditionally geared toward cash games. However, with over a decade of NBA DFS experience under my belt—and as someone who rarely dives into cash formats—I’m selecting picks that also typically come with high upside. That means they offer the steady floor needed for cash games while packing the high ceiling we need for tournaments.
We have a tidy six-game slate on tap in the NBA tonight, featuring three games with implied totals of at least 231 points. The Pelicans-Jazz, Timberwolves-Suns, and Thunder-Spurs matchups stand out, with the other three games projecting as slow, low-scoring slugfests. We’ll have to decide between Luka Doncic and LeBron James at the top of the salary pool, but we should be able to make many lineup combinations work with the value available on the Utah Jazz tonight.
This article will provide my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 3/2/25. Remember to monitor NBA injury news and our excellent NBA injuries report tool, as the slate can completely change before lineups lock at 6:00 p.m. EST on DraftKings and FanDuel. Good luck, RotoBallers!
Here is a look at some of the higher-priced players we can use as building blocks for cash and GPP contests.
A lot hinges on Luka Doncic’s and LeBron James’s availability. Both players are questionable, and things will drastically change if one or both sit tonight. I’ll give James the slight edge due to his excellent form and $1,000 cheaper salary, but both are firmly in play if they suit up.
Anthony Edwards is questionable, but he’s too cheap for being rested and in a glorious matchup against a sliding Phoenix defense. The Suns have allowed the seventh-most fantasy points per game over their last 15 games and the fifth-most fantasy points per game to SGs over that same stretch.
Jalen Brunson, Tyler Herro, Franz Wagner, and Paolo Banchero are all slightly underpriced, but I don’t love their game environments at all. Banchero is my pick from the foursome, as he dropped 59.5 DK points in his last game and gets a Raptors’ defense that ranks 24th in defensive rating.
Top Core Plays:
*Luka Doncic if James is ruled out.
This is where we talk about saving salary. Whether it’s a severely underpriced backup or even as simple as a guy playing like someone who should be priced higher, this is where you’ll find guys who make lineups work.
Sorting the best value picks of the day by fantasy points per dollar:
I hope you’re in the mood for some Jazz. Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Jordan Clarkson, and Collin Sexton won’t suit up tonight, meaning the mid-range and punt options on Utah are all firmly in play. The game should have a decent pace and lots of scoring, but the real appeal here is that the two defenses allow the third (Utah) and fourth (New Orleans) most fantasy points per game this season.
As such, Kyle Filipowski, Brice Sensabaugh, Isaiah Collier, Keyonte George, KJ Martin, and even Johnny Juzang are mid-to-low-priced options to consider tonight. Filipowski, George, and Collier project for starter-level minutes, with Filipowski standing out as he put up 49.75 DK points the last time he played more than 30 minutes (2/24). The Pelicans allow the second-most fantasy points per game to Cs and the fifth and fourth-most to PGs and SGs, respectively.
Top Value Plays:
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The Jazz options are too appealing to ignore. Collier and George are at a great mid-range price point, and they’ll both see more than enough minutes to put up a valuable game in a juicy spot against the Pelicans tonight. I prefer getting to George since he has shown a higher ceiling (51 DK points on 2/22), but both are firmly in play on this slate.
The Jazz will be very popular, so I love getting to the relatively low-owned Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander makes sense in tournaments. Both have the potential to lead this slate in scoring, and Doncic could be a smash play if LeBron gets ruled out. SGA gets a Spurs defense that has allowed the third-most fantasy points per game over their last seven games, but a 13-point spread makes me hesitate slightly.
Top PG Options:
We can’t just plug in Jazz at SG, though Juzang will be in the mix at just $3,800 on DraftKings. Cason Wallace and Stephon Castle look excellent at their respective pricing, with Castle being the preference of the two as he comes into this game off the heels of games with 40.75 and 44.75 DK points.
Edwards and Murphy III are among my favorite pay-up options on the slate. Edwards is rested, underpriced, and in a favorable matchup against a leaky Suns defense. Neither team plays fast, but the Suns don’t have the personnel or the scheme to slow Ant down tonight. He put up 59.25 DK points against them on 1/29 and a similar outing would put him in the optimal lineup on tonight’s slate.
Top SG Options:
It’s LeBron, Ant, Murphy III, and a smattering of value pieces projecting for minutes in the low 20’s at SF tonight. LeBron is a top pick of mine if Doncic plays, but his potential ceiling skyrockets if he’s out of the lineup. He averages 1.58 FPTS/min with a 34.4% usage rate with Doncic off the floor this season, so he’d be a smash play in any format despite the Clippers being a solid team defensively.
Murphy III is in the same high-paced, high-scoring affair that all the Jazz enjoy, and he’s my favorite way to run it back on this slate. He hasn’t been hitting his shots lately, but he’s still able to hit value due to the all-around nature of his game. He racks up blocks and steals with the best of them (1.8 ‘stocks’ per game), and the Jazz have allowed the third-most fantasy points per game this season.
Top SF Options:
Top PF Options:
As mentioned, I’d like to get to LeBron tonight. If you’re going with a more balanced build, Banchero should eat the Raptor’s defense, and his price hasn’t entirely caught up to his production levels. Zion Williamson is also worth a hard look, as he’s getting around 30 minutes per game and has a high ceiling on this new-look Pelicans squad. He’s averaging 1.65 FPTS/min with a 33% usage rate over his last five games, and now he gets the top matchup on the board against a vulnerable Jazz defense.
Haywood Highsmith should see enough minutes to be viable at his rock-bottom salary. Andrew Wiggins, Nikola Jovic, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. won’t suit up tonight, so Highsmith should see around 30 minutes in a competitive game against the Knicks at home. He put up 36.25 DK points over 27 minutes two games ago, so we know that type of production is there with him.
Welcome to the Kyle Filipowski Show. The rookie big man out of Duke is averaging 0.99 FPTS/min with Clarkson, Kessler, Markkanen, and Sexton off the floor this season. He’s projected to play 32 minutes at a modest $5,200 price tag on DraftKings. That’s enough to get him into lineups by itself, but we can also throw in that the Pelicans allow the second-most fantasy points per game to Cs this season. He’s a near-lock button type of play on this slate.
Isaiah Hartenstein, Kel’el Ware, and Yves Missi are excellent plays at similar price points, and I won’t hesitate to get to them in lineups with Filipowski tonight. From a points-per-dollar standpoint, Missi is my favorite of the trio, as he’s averaging a solid 28.1 DK PPG over his last five games.
Top C Options:
I’m out on James Harden at his elevated price tag tonight. He needs 48.5 DK points to hit 5x value, and he has only hit that mark once in his last five games. He’s also playing in a slow, low-total game with a healthy Kawhi Leonard at his side, which caps his potential to hit a ceiling game. My preferred option tonight is paying up for Luka/SGA or paying down for the Jazz players.
Here is where I leave you with some of my favorites.
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